See Jon Hamm’s High School Photo for a Rare Glimpse of Him During a Slightly Awkward Phase
A new photo of "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm from his high school days has been unearthed – and in it he's a little more Dick Whitman than Don Draper.
While the 42-year-old certainly cuts a stylish figure these days – both in real life and onscreen as dapper ad man – he did have a slightly awkward phase (emphasis on slightly), as this photo shows, when he was a St. Louis, Missouri, high schooler.
The John Burroughs School student, who is flanked by two classmates in the black-and-white image, sported some serious – gasp! – bangs back in the day. While it was nothing like Justin Bieber's new Flock of Seagulls look, the fringe is still amusing as it is styled unevenly across his forehead. Sadly, his headwear, which is reminiscent of a captain's hat, prevents us from seeing his late '80s hair in all its glory.
Styles aside, Hamm was certainly still cute back then – and his smile, something we don't often see on "Mad Men" – is really the focal part of the photo.
The actor, who played football, was both a jock and theater geek — and has talked about his years at the private school.
"I went to a high school where you were encouraged to do a lot of different things, so there wasn't this great divide between the jocks and the theater guys, or the smart kids and the stoners, or whatever," he told A.V. Club in 2009. "It was like everybody was a little bit of everything, and that was encouraged.
"I was a pretty serious athlete for a long time, and thought maybe that’s what I wanted to do with my life, but I was also a diligent student, and really wanted to achieve in that area, too. And theater was kind of a challenge, like, 'Oh, maybe I could do that, that looks like fun,'" he continued. "So I started doing it a little bit in 11th and 12th grade, and got pretty good feedback, and kept getting cast to do bigger and bigger parts. And I started to think, 'Oh, maybe this is something I could do.'"
And he does it well! While "Mad Men" just returned to AMC's airwaves last week – and Don's second marriage seems to be in trouble – it's nearly done shooting for the season, and Hamm will begin filming the movie "Million Dollar Arm" in May.
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